"The traffic from both the sides have been affected. We have diverted the vehicular movement from NH4," said Suresh Zhurunge, API, highway traffic police.

A similar landslide had taken place, last Saturday causing the closure of one of the lanes. After the July 20 landslide incident which claimed the lives of three people, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) started the work of removing loose boulders off the stretch to avoid further incidents.

MSRDC, on Thursday, invited tenders for the design and execution of rock fall mitigation work at identified rock fall risk areas in Bhor ghat section of the Mumbai Pune expressway.

Pic/Chaitraly Deshmukh

MSRDC would be spending over Rs 33 crore for the same for which the last date of submitting tenders is August 14. The successful bidders have the deadline of 5 months which includes monsoon period to complete the work.

The MSRDC, along with a team of experts have identified the risky location from where the loose boulders will be removed and stainless steel mesh net using rock bolting method will be used.

MSRDC has also proposed to spend Rs 25-30 crore on the extension of the tunnel work and the tenders for the same are also expected to be invited soon. The extension work of the tunnel would start only after monsoon.